Reading science fiction like it matters since 1989.

October 2012

10/28/2012

written by Jeff Sproul, directed by Lindsey Moore Sproul
produced by No Tea Productions, featuring Matthew Wise, Alicia Barnatchez, Jared Warner, Jeremy Mather, and Jeff Sproul. Kraine Theatre, New York

I don’t like pulp in my orange juice. If I wanted pulp, I would eat an orange. In my sf? Yeah, I like a little pulpy goodness, and if there’s a hint of really smart silliness, well, all the better. This was exactly what I got with No Tea Productions’s Space Captain, Captain of Space at New York’s Kraine Theatre this August. An homage to pulp science fiction, early sf movie serials, and a touch of B movies, the production involved a blend of pre-recorded film, live action, and puppets. No Tea Productions created a fun, clever, innovative parody emerging from the genetic goo of old school Flash Gordon, Duck Dodgers, and Fraiser.

10/27/2012

So, here we are, our second post-paper issue. At some point, that will be so unremarkable that I can stop remarking on it, but for now, it’s still . . . futuristic, weird, uncanny, astonishing, all of that. For the next few months, a lot of our attention is still going to be absorbed by the transition. But not all of it! So, here’s our hit parade for this month.

10/11/2012

Welcome to the first post-paper issue of NYRSF. This has been a long time coming. We first determined back in November of last year that this was the only way we could continue into volume 25. The sad fact is we were consistently receiving less money in subscriptions and back issue sales than we were paying in printing and postage, and something had to change. The happy fact is everyone has been extremely supportive of this move—our contributors most of all. It’s been a ride.

The Greeks tended to produce plays in trilogies, sweeping epics in which people are served their own children as an appetizer, and the solution to eye trouble is a little extreme. Modern drama got out of that habit for whatever reason, though occasionally an ambitious playwright suddenly hankers for a larger story. Mac Rogers is such a playwright and perhaps sf theatre’s most important. The final installment of his Honeycomb Trilogy, Sovereign, premiered at the Secret Theatre this June, and I don’t think I’ve been so excited about seeing a play in a long time. Rogers’s did not disappoint. In fact, he has completely upended sf on stage.